


Finding Home

by Veloce



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Blood and Violence, Borderlands: Borderlands 2, Explicit Language, F/M, Slow Burn, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:41:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22814026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Veloce/pseuds/Veloce
Summary: A woman strands on Pandora, without any money and hardly any fighting experience. Struggling to survive she stumbles into the war between Hyperion and the resistance, while she always tries to hides her biggest secret: Her past.(Additional Characters/Tags will come with story's progress. I just marked the most important things which will come as a warning.)
Relationships: Mordecai (Borderlands)/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter I - Act I

**Author's Note:**

> Hello folks! This is my first fic I post in a decade (at least) and my first ever posted in English. Please be aware that English is not my mothertongue. 
> 
> I use the italic style to sign somebody's thoughts (if this turns out to be bad for the reading, tell me and I'll change that).

### Chapter I - Stranger to a new planet

#### Act I

Sanctuary. Finally she reached the city with the promising name. The profile of her shoes was long clocked with snow, the cold wind whipped into her face without any mercy. Despite her running to her destination, her body shivered under the temperatures. She hated extreme temperatures; at least if she wasn’t prepared for them.  
Out of breath she trudged herself into the city’s center, her breath still fast and heavy. The air burned in her throat, but nothing of that mattered for now.

There was only one thing she needed and that was money. Enough money to get off this goddamn planet again. Coming to Pandora had soaked up all the money she had left in an instant. But she had a gun and motivation to work for it.

Eyes full of hope looked at the bounty board as she approached it; just to see a message:  
**NO JOBS AVAILABLE!**

“Oh, c’mon…”  
It was a quiet mumble, just audible for herself. She rolled her eyes annoyed, put her hands onto her hips. Quietly she looked around. People wandered around busy, not caring for her the slightest. Wind blew her long hair in front of her face, which she combed back with her fingers.

_I should check the stores. Maybe someone there got a job for me. Or at least know where to get one._

Despite beeing the biggest city around, at least that’s what a guy in the space ship told her, Sanctuary didn’t seem to be big enough to get lost in its alleys. So she quickly decided to continue her way past the board and to the next intersection.  
Music echoed into her ear. The right path led to a dead end with a bar, praised as “Moxxxi’s” in bright neon lights.  
_A bar… that’s good! The owner certainly knows a bunch of people and maybe even has a job for me._  
Determined she walked over and entered the building. The interior looked old and used, but everything on this planet did, so she didn’t mind it.

A woman just walked past her and towards the counter.

As she spotted the woman, just walking behind the counter, she swallowed intimidated. She was beautiful from head to toe, her clothes showing just enough of her gorgeous body to make appetite for more. The woman spotted her and smiled nicely.  
“Hey, sweetheart! Come over! Don’t be shy!”  
A jolt shot through her body.  
_Crap! No turning back now! Be a fuckin’ adult!_

She walked over to the counter, her legs feeling soft and weak, but she did her best to hide it.  
“I’ve never seen you here. I’m Mad Moxxi. What’s your name, sweetheart?”  
Ice blue eyes stared at her, but in a friendly way she hadn’t expected.  
“K-Kathlyn… Name’s Kathlyn.”  
Moxxi leaned onto the counter, closer to her. Kathlyn did her best to keep her eyes locked onto the woman’s face, but she couldn’t resist taking a short glimpse at the small heart shaped tattoo.  
“So… need a drink, sweetheart?”  
“I-I- N-No, sor-ry. Got no money.”  
Moxxi raised one of her eyebrows unamused. Instantly Kathlyn shrugged back and raised her hands defending. “I-It’s not what y-you might think! I don’t want trouble… o-or free stuff! I’m searchin’ some work. Y-You got some… by any chance?”  
The woman’s eyes remained on her for short seconds, then she started laughing. It made her even more uncomfortable than she already was.  
“Oh damn, you’re too cute for this rotten place, honey.”  
All of a sudden, a male voice approaching from the right answered.  
“Aw! Thanks Moxxi! If I knew yer still thinkin’ of me that wa-”  
“Shut up, bird-sucker! What do ya want?!”

Kathlyn looked to her right, eying the man next to her, who just put three empty bottles onto the counter. He was tall, at least a head taller than her and his body was lean, almost unhealthy thin at first sight. The thin, brown fabirc of his shirt left no possibilty she did not see how muscular his arms were, which made her wonder what he usually did the whole day (stop, you dirty mind!).  
His long beard was formed and trimmed precisely in shape, but his long hair was bound up into a sloppy ponytail. Between his dark brown hair she spotted single hairs of grey, telling her he probably was older than her.  
Maybe she would see it in his eyes, but he hid them under goggles with toned glasses. The red bandana on his head and scarf around his neck and chest built a huge contrast to his brown and grey cloth color; and she thought it complemented it quite well. But his overall look gave her the impression this was more accidental than intentional.

Suddenly she heard the screech of a creature and seconds after a bird landed on the shoulder which pointed in her direction. It made her shrug back a bit, but she couldn’t take her eyes off. The bird returned the look in a curious manner, tilting its head slightly. Red eyes stared at her, then it’s attention was drawn to Moxxi.  
_He looks really cool… But also like someone I don’t wanna get in trouble with…_

“Y’know what I want, Moxxi.”  
His voice was raspy and low, almost seductive. Moxxi groaned annoyed and took the bottles off the counter.  
_Is he tryin’ to flirt with her? Moxxi doesn’t seem to be very fond of him. But he also doesn’t look like he cares about that._  
The bartender got him some filled bottles.  
“Don’t ya think you already got enough?”  
“Heh, I never get enough and you know that.”  
He put his hand into his pocket, got some bills out of it and slammed them onto the counter. Unaware of him, some of the bils fell to the ground while his hand traveled up. Moxxi took the money and counted it attentively.  
“Okay, get lost or I’ll rethink my prices!”  
The man chuckled amused, grabbed his bottles and left. Not even before he reached the door outside, one of the bottles was already on his lips.

Confused Kathlyn looked down to the money on the floor.  
_He didn’t even realize he lost money… even if he didn’t seem to be THAT drunk._  
Before Moxxi could pick up their conversation again, Kathlyn bowed down, grabbed the money and followed him quickly.  
“I’ll be right back, Moxxi!”

Since his pace wasn’t fast, rather relaxed, she caught up with him easily.  
“Ehm, excuse me?”  
He just wanted to put the bottle back on his lips as he turned towards her. Slowly he let his hand sink and wiped his arm over his mouth.  
“Hola, señorita. What’s up?”  
He smiled friendly at her, but it was a totally different kind of smile than the one he gave Moxxi. Even if she didn’t know him, this fact caused a little sting in her chest, but she shook it off.  
She stretched her arm towards him, holding the money he had dropped at Moxxxi’s.  
“H-Here! You lost that.”  
He looked down at her hand, then at her face, tiliting his head in the same manner his bird did earlier. Then, suddenly, he bursted out in a loud laugh, bowing down. The bird on his shoulder shifted under the movement with a protesting screech. He held his belly, while he seemlingly couldn’t stop laughing.

His reaction made her shrug back a bit and now she looked silent at him, confused by the reaction.  
_Why is everyone laughin’ at me, goddamnit?!_  
It made her swallow and for a short moment she wanted to throw the bills right at his face and run away to seek a lonely place where she could cry.

When he finally stopped, he caught his breath and looked at her.  
“Yer definitely not from here, right?”  
“W-Why do you think that?!”  
“Pandora’s the planet of the wicked and yer wanna give me money back I accidentialy dropped without noticin’.”  
Ashamed she turned her head away from him, chewing on her lips until it hurt. She felt embarrassed down to every bone.  
“Ju-Just take your goddamn money!”  
It was silent between the two. When Kathlyn dared to look at him, she noticed he’d stared at her.  
“Wh-What?!”  
“Got a good day, y’know? Keep it!”

He turned away from her and started walking again.  
“Wa-Wait! You just can’t-”  
“See you around, cariño!”  
He raised his right hand, which still held the bottle, in a waving manner, signalling his goodbyes. Kathlyn wanted to follow him at first, but then she looked down at the money.  
“But…”  
_I really need it… Is it really right to keep it?_

With slow steps she returned to Moxxxi’s, sat onto a chair next to the counter. Her eyes were still pinned onto the money, so she didn’t catch Moxxi’s puzzled look.  
“You REALLY wanted to give him the money back?!”  
Her voice sounded incredulous, but not shameful. Kathyln sighed and let the money slid into one of her own pockets, promising quietly she would pay it back when she was able to.  
“He didn’t make a pass on you, right?”  
This made her look shocked at Moxxi.  
“What?! No! Why… why should he?”  
The bartender turned and took something from the lit shelf, which she cleaned with a towel.  
“You are totally Mordy’s type. He loves the cute and innocent.”  
As Moxxi turned back, Kathlyn’s face was blushed, but looked bitter at the same time.  
“What is it, sweetheart?”  
“I’m… I’m neither cute nor innocent…”  
That statement made Moxxi giggle. Shortly after she placed a shot glass in front of Kathlyn, filled with a clear liquid and a lemon slice on top. She looked up confused.  
“It’s on the house. You look like you need it now. Take it as… a welcome gift.”

Until now Moxxi appeared to be a tough busines woman. But this made her at least think that the woman behind the counter had a good heart as well. Quickly she took the glass, poured the liquid down her throat quickly and bit into the lemon slice. The mixture of hard alcohol and lemon juice left a warm, pleasent feeling as it sipped down her throat to her stomach.  
Suddenly she felt more awake than ever before.  
“Thanks, Moxxi. You’re really helpin’ me out.”  
“Ah, just don’t make it a habit like that bummer of a guy! So, you wanted a job. Unfortunately I ain’t got one, but you could ask Marcus, the local weapon dealer. Just make sure he doesn’t rip you off.”  
Moxxi grabbed the empty glas and put it into the sink.  
“Or you could try your luck at the Crimson Raiders. Rolands pays good money, but workin’ for him means you’re involved in some political stuff. If you don’t wanna that happen, stay away from them.”  
Kathlyn nodded and slid off the chair.  
“Okay, Again, thank you so much, Moxxi. Next time I’ll invite you!”  
“See you again, sweetheart.”  
She walked to the exit.

Stil unsure whether she wanted to be drawn into said political stuff, she decided to check on Marcus first. He gave her a small delivery job to Scooter, the local mechanic, but when she returned it was obvious that man didn’t believe she was able to do anything more challenging than that. So after getting the little money for her tour, she ended up in front of the Crimson Raider’s headquarter.  
**FIGHT BACK! JOIN THE RESISTANCE!**

  
The banner hanging high above the entrace made her thoughtful.  
Resistance against what? It reads as a war is going on here.  
Silent, she stared at it, reading it over and over again.  
_This may be a very bad idea… But I need the money if I wanna get off this rotten planet quickly! So, here goes nothin’!_

Carefully she opened the door to the building, peeking inside. The room right in front of her was a mess. Bunk beds, tables, washing machines; everything stood around in chaos. Clothes lying around, paired with various flyers praising things she had no idea of. And right between sat a black haired woman, bowed over some paperwork.  
“Execuse me? I’m looking for the Crimson Rai-”  
“Upstairs!”  
The woman answered in an instant without even looking at her. She raised her right hand and pointed towards the stairs on the left side of the room. After a while she took the hand down again and started mumbling something, but Kathlyn didn’t understand what she talked about. Maybe something about the work she was doing.  
“Tha-Thank you…”  
Kathlyn closed the door behind herself quietly and walked to the stairs. For a short moment she stopped and looked back at the woman, unsure what she should think about her.

As she reached the upper level, she stood between two doors; one to her left, that led obviously into a dead end, and one to her right, that led to two other rooms. In the second one, which she could see easily as the doorframes were aligned, stood a huge man. He also leaned on something over the table in front of him, probably working on something.  
Slowly she walked through the room between them, which contained two bunk beds, a sofa and the door of a huge safe. Of course she was curious what it contained, but the answer was none of her busines.

She stopped a small distance behind the man.  
“Excuse me, a-are you Roland?”  
The man turned towards her, standing in an upright position. Despite he wasn’t as tall as the guy she met earlier, his broad and trained stature made her feel even smaller. His skin was dark brown and sat tight around his bulky muscles. For a moment she wondered if it would be any effort for him to break her neck.  
The features of his face were edgy. On the barrett he wore was an emblem attached; the same she’d seen on the massive flyer hangig outside the building.  
“Indeed. What can I do for you?”  
If she hadn’t been daunted before, she surely would by now. His voice sounded neutral in a way she hadn’t imagined, but it’s tone was dark and masculine.  
“Eh… M-Moxxi told me you may have a job for me?”  
He eyed her from head to toe, what made her look aside, soaking in the details in the room. There was an endless ammount of flyers, posters and information hung on the walls. Four of them were profiles of people, who had a bounty on them. The sum was high and she started fantasizing what she would do with such an ammount of money.

Suddenly Roland continued speaking, drawing her attention back to him.  
“Work for the Crimson Raiders is a dirty topic. You are sure you want to d-”  
“I AM!”  
Right after she realized she shouted at him and leaned forwards in an inappropriate way. Embarressed by her rude reaction she shrugged back.  
“I-I mean, I need the money so I’m not picky… Maybe just don’t give me some… persuation work? I’m not good with words… or people…”  
There was not a single shift in his expression and that drove her crazy. Normally she was good in reading someone’s emotions from even the tiniest movements in their face or body. Observating others made her learn these things. But he was a black box.

Then he nodded and grabbed a device from his belt and started typing on it. Since he shifted in his stance a bit, Kathlyn was able to see behind him and the table was another door, leading to something that looked like a balcony. A woman leaned against it’s railing, but she just could see her sillhouette, because the sun outside shone brightly.

“Hm… I’d send you the mission information, but it seems I can’t connect to your ECHO. Is it configured correctly?”  
As Roland asked the question. she looked up to him with big, puzzled eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but just quiet stutterings escaped her throat.  
“What is it?”  
“Eh… wha-what’s an ECH-O?”  
For the first time since Roland turned around, his expression changed; to a highly confused one. His eyebrows were raised in surprise.  
“You don’t know what an ECHO is?”  
Kathlyn backed off a bit. She had honesty no idea what an ECHO could be. On the planet she’d lived her whole life she never had contact with something called that. Despite that whole Pandora seemed to be highly technologized in contrast to the place she used to call home.

She just wanted to run away ashamed, but before she could, Roland turned away from her.  
“Lilith?”  
Kathlyn saw the woman’s sillhouette move towards the doorway and as she stepped inside, she could finally see how she looked. She seemed to be a bit shorter than herself; her hair was fire red. Her style was usual to what Kathlyn saw on Pandora, even if she thought that woman could easily wear Moxxi’s clothes and looked just as stunning.  
As she saw the blue marks on the left side of her body, her right fist clenched. A siren…  
“What is it?”  
“You still got your old ECHO?”  
Quickly the woman looked at Kathlyn, who instantly turned her head away shyly.  
“Yah… sure. It’s in the safe. Why?”  
Roland started walking towards the other room.  
“She needs one.”  
“Heh?! You don’t have an ECHO?!”  
Restrained Kathlyn shook her head, feeling more and more ashamed by the second. This was a completely other world than she knew and slowly she started regretting coming here. Lilith wrapped her arms in front of her chest and leaned against the wall behind her.  
“Surviving on this planet without an ECHO is… a piece of art. So you got nothin’? No way to communicate, no maps, no fast travel or catch-a-ride?”  
“I-I arrived here a few hours ago… I don’t know about the technology o-or systems used here… and there’s nobody I could communicate with anyways...”  
If she looked at Lilith, she would have seen how pityful the woman looked at her. During their short conversation, the safe door made a heavy sound as Roland opened and closed it afterwards again.

He returned, holding a smiliar device in his hands like he carried on his belt. He offered it to her.  
“Just give it back when you don’t need it anymore.”  
Lilith groaned a bit annoyed, making both look at her.  
“You should cut that habit of renting stuff that’s not yours.”  
“Really? You don’t need it anyways! It’s in the safe now for months.”  
“Doesn’t mean you got the permission to lend it to anybody!”  
“Stop being such a-”  
“WHAT DO YOU WANNA CALL ME?!”  
“N-Nothing… Sorry, Lilith.”  
“THAT’S the reason nobody wants to fuck with you! Literaly!”  
Silent Kathlyn watched the argument, her eyes switching between the two. An unpleasant feeling grew in her belly, reminding her of the times when her parents argued about her back then. She hated that feeling; and the fact she was the cause of the trouble.  
“Stop it! ...Please…”  
Instantly Roland and Lilith looked at her, last with a quite shocked expression.  
“I-I don’t want it… not like that. I get by without the ECHO… I mean… I found this place without it, right? Just tell me what I need to know...”  
Again Lilith groand, but this time she ripped her former ECHO out of Roland’s huge hands and offered it to Kathlyn herself. Confused she looked at the red haired woman, baffled by her reaction.  
“Take it. He’s right. As long as I don’t need it, someone else should use it.”  
Kathlyn looked at the device for a long moment, making sure the woman in front of her woudln’t change her mind. Slowly she took it and inspected it closely. It was an old device, the cover littered with scratches, but it was still working and that was everything that mattered.  
“Just take care of it, okay?”  
“Thank you… I re-really appreciate that. I’ll take good care of it. I promise.”  
Lilith earned a shy smile for her gratitude. She nodded and stepped back so Roland took the lead of the conversation again.

It took just a few seconds until the ECHO in Kathlyn’s hands beeped twice. The display showed photographs of two men.  
“These two men sold information about the Crimson Raiders to Handsome Jack. I want them dead. Make a photo of their corpses and bring me their ECHO’s and I’ll pay you. You certainly understand that I can’t give you the big jobs for now. But as soon as you’re proven trustworthy, this will change. If you want to continue working for us, of course.”  
Again, Roland sounded as neutral as a machine and secretly she thought about if it was possible he was a bot, disguised as a human. But at the same time she thought that Lilith was a clever woman and she might have found out about that long ago.

When she looked back down on the pictures, she tried to imprint every detail of their appearances into her brain. Then she nodded.  
Killing them… just as I expected...  
“Okay, I can do that. Got any information about their current whereabouts?”  
Roland tapped the map on the holographic table in the room’s center and a certain area was projected above.  
“They’d been seen last at Frostburn Canyon.”  
Kathlyn clipped the bulky device to her belt.  
“Good. See you later then.”  
She waved a short goodbye and left the room towards the stairs.

Lilith walked onto the balcony, waiting for the woman to leave the building. Her hands laid onto the railing. A bit she shifted to the right, but withdrew her hand quickly as she heard the screeching voice of the bird that sat not far away from her hand. She glared at the bird distrustful.  
A quiet laugh sounded from behind her. Right of the door way, where Roland leaned in, Mordecai sat on a chair. His legs were crossed, one hand in his pocket, the other holding an almost empty bottle of rakk ale. The place wasn’t visible from inside.  
“Still don’t trustin’ Blood, huh?”  
Lilith made a restrained sound, but her attention was back on the woman as she saw her moving towards the center square of the city. She stopped there, grabbed her ECHO and tipped on it, obviously getting familiar with the device first.  
“You wouldn’t give her the job if you thought she couldn’t make it, right?”  
The question left unsanswered by Roland. Lilith looked back at him.  
“What do you think, Mordy?”  
Her voice was littered with worry, knowing what bad things especially a woman could experience on this planet. To her surprise, the man with the bottle shrugged his shoulders.  
“Dunno. Didn’t pay attention.”  
The siren rolled her eyes.  
“Then look at her and tell me!”  
Suddenly her voice was commanding, her finger pointing at the woman far in front of them.  
Mordecai stretched himself a bit to get a better view over the railing.  
“Hm… Huh?!”  
Suddenly he jumped up, leaning over the railing almost so far he fell. Bloodwing jumped aside, screeching annoyed. He took the goggles off his eyes to make sure nothing tricked his sight.  
“You gave HER a killin’ job?!”  
For the first time during the whole conversation, Roland said something.  
“You know her?”  
“Yeah. N-No… Not really. Met her at Moxxxi’s an hour ago. Looked so shy‘n innocent I wondered how she even survived the way here.”  
Quickly he put the goggles back in place and looked at Lilith and Roland.  
“Could be wrong, of course, but I doubt she can do it.”

Quietly Roland grabbed his ECHO. A few seconds later, the one on Mordecai’s belt beeped twice. He looked down at the device puzzled.  
“Go after her and make sure she won’t get killed. Her name’s Kathlyn, by the way.”  
Roland sounded very serious and comanding, but Lilith and Mordecai knew this was his way to express his concerns.  
“What?! Why me?! YOU sent her out without checkin’ her skills!”  
“When you said something earlier, I wouldn’t-”  
“I wasn’t payin’ attention on whatever you did in there!”  
“Go after her!”  
Mordecai raised his hands in a slight aggressive, slight puzzled mannor, not understanding the decision.  
“Now it’s MY fault?! Seriously, Roland?!”  
He looked over at Lilith, who just shrugged her shoulder helpless. He knew she wouldn’t interrupt or help him this time.  
“You know him.”  
That was all she said to it. Mordecai laid his head back and groaned loudly.  
“Oh, c’mon… I’m not a babysitter…”  
But as Roland continued to look serious at him, he understood there was no choice to make.  
“Blood, follow her…”  
Mordecai sounded defeated as he comanded his bird, which instantly lept off the railing and followed the woman, who had already left the town’s square in front of thim.  
“You owe me some for that!”  
More dissatisfied than threatening the man grabbed his sniper rifle, which leaned against the wall next to the chair and swung it over his shoulder. Then he jumped over the railing onto the small canopy and from there down onto the street.

Lilith’s and Roland’s eyes followed him until he walked around the corner.  
“I’m sure she doesn’t know how to use the catch-a-ride...”  
It was just a slight comment Roland made, but it made a smile hushing over the woman’s lips.  
“Good! Cause Mordy’s a pain in the ass when he’s bored!”


	2. Chapter I - Act II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doing her first job for the Crimson Raiders, Kathlyn walkes to Frostburn Canyon. Secretly Mordecai follows her. After she fullfilled her duty, he decides to keep an eye on her.

### Chapter I - Stranger to a new planet

#### Act II

Kathlyn groaned as a cold breeze shook her body. Using the ECHO, she’d let it plan the shortest walking route to Frostburn Canyon and followed it, but it still was a journey of several hours; and she had to walk it back, too.  
In addition to that, the closer she approached her destination, the more the degrees dropped.  
_How can it be that cold?!_

Her body was already covered in more clothes than any resident in Sanctuary had worn, but still she started to shiver under the temperatures. Quickly she stopped, put her backpack down and pulled a jacket out of it.  
_The next planet I’ll travel to doesn’t even know what the word snow means!_  
Throwing the backpack back over her shoulder she continued her way.

Unbeknownst to her, Mordecai followed her with enough distance to not be spotted by her. Additionally Bloodwing flew high above her, tracking her position at any time inconspicously. 

Another hour passed and Kathlyn finally arrived at the bandit camp Roland showed her on the map. She hid a good distance away, watching the camp for a while, but no one seemed to be there. Quickly she grabbed the repeater pistol from the holster on her thigh and checked ammunition.  
_Five shots… plus twenty in my pockets… If I solve this cleverly, I need just two bullets. But nobody must see me!_  
Then she heard a voice echoing from the camp and a man walked from one side to the other. In an instant she recognized him from the photo.  
He’s one of them! Jackpot!  
He seemed to argue about something and then vanished into one of the small buildings. Kathlyn checked behind her quickly, making sure no one was around, and then sneaked quietly into the camp.

She stopped outside of the building, a window to her left, but far away enough so no one would spot her instantly. The argument of two men sounded through the thin walls.  
“Give me ma money! We got a deal!”  
“Yah, fifty fifty! You got your part!”  
“Don’t fuck with me! This ain’t fifty percent!”

High above the camp, Mordecai stood on a glacier, Bloodwing sitting on his shoulder. Through the scope of his rifle he watched the strange woman.  
“Whatc’cha thinkin’, Blood? Is she brave enough to beat them? Or dumb enough to get killed?”  
The bird made a short, crowing noise and started tdiying up the plumage on its chest, not caring about the concerns of his owner.  
“Brave you say? Hm… We’ll see.”  
“Give me the money or I’ll kill ya!”  
“Oh, I’ll kill you first!”  
Kathlyn kneeled quiet in the snow, eavesdropping their conversation. Suddenly two guns were fired at almost the exact same moment. Frightened, she shrugged and lowered her head. Then everything went quiet. It took a few moments for her, until she dared to look up again.

 _What the hell happened in there? Are they dead? What if one is still alive?_  
Trying to be patient Kathlyn waited several minutes. Her left ear was pressed against the cold wall of the building, trying to hear some movements inside, but it seemed their fight ended without a winner.  
The grip around her pistol tightened as she slowly dared to move towards the entrance of the small hut. The snow crunched under the weight of her steps. Quickly she peaked through the open door, but no one was inside except for two corpses. 

She walked into the house, looking down at the liveless bodies. As she knelt down, way too late she realized one of the corpses was old and long dead, but conserved by the cold temperatures. Kathlyn wanted to back off, but she crashed against an obstacle behind.  
The clicking noise of a gun made her body freeze in fear and shock.  
_FUCK!!!_  
“Drop the gun, lass!”  
Defeated she slowly laid the gun down to the floor with trembling fingers and kicked it away. Afterwards she raised both her hands, good visible for him. Hurriedly an arm wrapped around her neck, pressing her head back against his shoulder. She felt the cold metal of a gun barrel pressed against her temple, what made her squint her eyes scared.  
“So, lassie. What’chya doin’ here, hm?”  
However Kathlyn remained silent, swallowing nervously.  
_It was a mistake to step a foot on this goddamn planet!_  
“Be a good gurl and tell me what yah doin’ here. Maybe I’ll give you… a little reward if yah behavin’.”  
During his speech his voice turned into a whisper right next to her ear. She couldn’t see his facial expression, but she knew he grinned dirty. The whole situation started to make her feel sick.  
_I need to calm down and concentrate! I got the advantage and he has no idea about that._  
“Believe me if I say you wouldn’t have fun with me.”  
She did her best to sound confident, but here and there her voice crackled, making clear she was scared to death.  
“Ah, I don’t think so… you’re such a pretty young lad. I won’t hurt’chya as long as yah doin’ as I say. Let’s face it, yah nothin’ without the gun.”  
While he talked, she closed her eyes, taking a long and deep breath while she started concentrating. Her left hand started itching, like it always did in this situation.  
“I didn’t want to use it anyway…”  
It was just a quiet mumble, but enough to confuse him. 

Kathlyn clenched her left fist and engery started flowing through her body, causing goosebumps all over her skin. 

Just seconds ago she loudly heard the guys breath close to her ear, but now he was silent. His body frozen and stiff, no stupid brabbling, no turned on wheeze which wanted to make her puke; nothing. Only the wind outside rustled over the snow covered roof and her own heartbeat.  
Quickly she peeled herself out of his grip and took his weapon, pointing it at him. He hadn’t moved at all, still standing there as if he held her throat. His body was petrified, with no visible reason though.  
Her left fist shook under the force she needed to hold it close, her nail would dig into her soft flesh long ago if she weren’t wearing gloves. The more pressure built up, the more it felt unbearable.  
_No way back. This is the price I pay…_  
Actually she had no interesst in killing people, but she knew she had no choice. If she wouldn’t pull the trigger now, he would win. With a loud bang the bullet went straight through his head. Flames ascended from the barrel. It took her by surprise, so she let the gun fall to the ground and jumped back.

Her left hand still clenched to a fist, the body in front of her remained in place. Only a dark red, burnt whole in his forehead differed the view before. With a loud groan Kathlyn withdrew the strength in her hand and opened it. The body suddenly collapsed towards her, blood spilled out of the whole in his head, and he collapsed lifeless to the floor.

Kathlyn stumbled back until she leaned against the wall. Her breath was rapid. She wanted to raise her left hand, but she barely was able to command the tired muscles to obey.  
_I need to get out of here before someone else notices…_  
She grabbed her pistol first, then made a photo with her ECHO and took theirs.

Suddenly she heard footsteps, approaching fast towards the building. Silently she jumped out of the back window and waited. Someone indeed entered the building, as she heard loud footsteps. Quickly she used their moment of confusion and got away as fast as she could, stepping into her old footsteps to not leave additional traces. 

Kathly ran back to Sanctuary without even a single break. Adrenaline was still pumping through her veins, overshadowing her exhaustion. When she entered the Crimson Raiders headquarter, she jumped up the stairs quickly.  
Roland was still in the command room. He sat on a chair and wrote some notes down onto stained paper. She looked around, but the woman called Lilith didn’t seem to be here anymore. Silent, she laid the two ECHOs on the desk next to the commander and showed him the photo of the corpses.  
“Ah, you’re back. Good work!”  
He stood up, giving her a slight smile, what overran her somehow. Maybe this guy wasn’t a bot after all. Quickly he eyed her from head to toe.  
“I’m glad to see you’re alright. Let me get your money… and a towel.”  
He walked to the safe room. She followed him confused.  
“Towel?”  
“Go down and look into a mirror. There’s one in the shelf right next to the bottom of the stairs.”  
The safe was opened with a loud noise, but she didn’t care. Like he said, she walked downstairs.

As she saw herself in the mirror, she swallowed hard. Her hands twitched up as she saw her blood smeared face. She wanted to touch her cheek, but she resisted the urge.  
_Is… this what I have to become to survive? A cold blooded murderer? Is there really no other way?_  
Sighing she lowered her few. She was so lost in her thoughts she didn’t even hear Roland appeared next to her. Just as he offered a damp towel to her, she finally noticed him.  
“You’re not used to these kinds of things, right?”  
For a short moment she thought about her answer. Then she grabbed the towel and rubbed it over her face.  
“It doesn’t matter.” Her voice was muffled, but he understood. She checked her face for any remaining blood and as she was satisfied, she folded it in her hands. She looked up at Roland, her eyes glaring serious.  
“I do whatever it takes to survive! So please don’t hesitate to give me a job that needs to be done!”  
He looked a bit suprised at first, but then he smiled again and nooded. He just opened his mouth to say something as the front door was smashed open harshly.

“ROLAND!”  
Roland, Kathlyn and even Tannis, who sat on her desk occupied, looked at the door. Mordecai stood there, leaning his arm against the door frame, supporting himself with the other on his knee. He was completely out of breath.  
“I-I lost-”  
But he fell silent in an instant as he saw Kathlyn standing there, safe and sound. His brows frowned confused. In the meantime, Bloodwing landed on his right shoulder.  
_She’s here?! How did she… ah, who the hell cares?! She’s safe!_  
Roland followed his view down to Kathlyn, then he started laughing loud.  
“Forgot you’re already wearing your goggles again, heh?”  
Mordecai caught the message, indicating they shouldn’t talk about the “thing” he lost; at least not in front of her. He lowered his head shaking and chuckled in amused disbelief. “Yah, yer right…”  
_Dios mio… I thought she’d died somehwere on her way back..._

Roland’s attention turned back to Kathlyn as he gave her the money for her job.  
“Here, you earned it. And because you want to work for us again, I want to give you a weapon as well. Follow me.”  
They walked back upstairs, Mordecai following them closely. Roland started rummaging in the huge safe room. Kathlyn, polite and restrained as she was, didn’t dare to set a single foot over the doorstep of the safe, but she peeked into the room. It was stuck with shelves which were loaded with guns, money and other equipment.  
Mordecai leaned against one of the bunk beds and watched her. With big eyes she soaked the environment in.  
“Does your gun have an elemental attribute? Or is there one you favor?”  
Roland’s voice echoed through the huge, metallic room. Kathlyn shrugged back a bit as he started speaking and looked confused. She was obviously overrun by the question.

Slowly Mordecai wrapped his arms in front of his chest, however, he couldn’t resist the urge to grin. He found her behavior sweet, even if it made him worry she may not be able to survive on this planet.  
“N-No… I-I mean, my gun doesn’t and… I have no preference about… that…”  
He looked down at the gun on her thigh.  
_No elemental type?_  
He remembered when he followed her into the hut. She had been in there way too long and he started to worry. So he had climbed down the glacier and right as he entered the camp, a shot was fired.  
When he entered the building, she wasn’t there anymore. Just three corpses, two of them fresh. And there was the thing that didn’t add up. The bullet injuries in both men had burnt edges; something a fire weapon only could cause.  
_But if her pistol has no fire element… and this is the same weapon she carried when I met her at Moxxxi’s…This means she used the one which laid in the hut and this wasn’t hers. How the hell did she get her hands onto this weapon?_

Kathlyn switched her weight onto the other leg. For a short second she looked at Mordecai, but as she noticed he looked back, she turned her head away shyly.  
Yer not as innocent as you behave, so what’s yer secret, cariño?

Roland was still rummaging through the huge number of weapons.  
“Dios mio, Roland! Give her a fire weapon! She certainly won’t run into a war against bots straight away!”  
The dark skinned man mumbled something incomprehensimble to himself and grabbed three different weapons. He presented them to Kathlyn and let her choose one. One was a SMG, one a shotgun and the last one was a sniper rifle. Mordecai looked at it. It was a beginner’s model, but a heavier one.  
_Roland’s forgetting how strong he is again… she won’t be able to shoot properly with it, at least not without lying down…_  
But before he could argue against it, she chosed the sniper rifle and swung it confident over her shoulder. For a short second he thought about saying something nevertheless, but he decided to let it flow for now.  
“Got some other jobs for me?”  
“I really appreciate your determination, Kathlyn, but slow down a bit, okay? It’ll be night soon and you look exhausted. If you don’t want to sit around, then you can go over to Moxxxi’s and grab us some pizza.”  
He held money in her direction, which she accepted.  
“Moxxi can keep the change.”  
Roland closed the huge metal door and walked slowly back to the command room. 

Kathlyn hesitated for a short moment. She quickly looked at Mordecai, who still watched her attentive, then she walked towards the staircase. However, he caught that small, furstated expression on her face as she started walking and wondered about it. Since he hadn’t something to do either, he decided to follow her.  
“Hey, mind if I join you?”  
They just left the building. Hearing his question she looked over her shoulder, a puzzled expression on her face. But then she shrugged her shoulders silently and continued her way towards the bar.  
“Yer Kathlyn, right?”  
They walked around the monument on the center square and past the fast travel station.  
“I’m Mordecai, and this lady here…”  
He pointed his finger at the bird on his shoulder.  
“This is Bloodwing.”  
Abruptly Kathlyn stopped and eyed both closely, not saying a single word.  
“What?”  
“Are you here to ridicule me again? If so, just leave!”  
_Ridicule her? Oh, shit! She’s talkin’ about this mornin’!_  
“N-No, of course not! I’m sorry if I crossed a line this mornin’. Didn’t want to mock you.”  
Another few seconds passed while she looked at him distrustful, but then she continued walking and he followed her quickly.  
“I really didn’t mean to, okay? Yer behavior was just so… unexpected… but it was very sweet.”  
Her walking speed increased, just enough to walk in front of him.  
_What the hell is wrong with her?! That was a compliment!_  
Silent he put his hands into his pockets and continued following her towards the bar.

When Kathlyn entered the bar, she shortly looked over her shoulder, making sure whether Mordecai was still following or not. She groaned quietly.  
_I have no idea what this guy wants… But Roland seems to trust in him. He might be one of the Crimson Raiders, too. Means he’s my collegue now… somehow at least._  
She looked at the counter, spotting Moxxi who smiled brightly as she approached her.  
“Oh, honey, you’re back. Got any jobs?”  
Kathlyn nodded as she slid onto one of the chairs in front of the counter.  
“Yah, Roland had something for me. And now, my mission is to get some delicious pizza for the Crimson Raiders.”  
She handed the money over to the busty woman.  
“Ah, you can keep the change.”  
Sloppy Moxxi counted the money and pushed it into her bra.  
“I like to hear that. I wish I could keep you as well, honey.” she said with a seducive voice, that made Kathlyn swallow hard. 

But as Mordecai joined them and sat down next to her, Moxxi’s manner changed. Her body language turned distanced just as the expression on her face.  
“Oh… you’re back too.”  
The bartender raised one eyebrow sceptically. Her mood turnend completely within splitseconds and she sounded rather annoyed by him than pleased.  
“Yeah, yeah, save it. Day was exhausting. Y’know what I need!”  
But to be fair, Mordecai didn’t sound friendly either. They were obviously on bad terms; something Kathlyn wasn’t a hundret percent sure about when she watched them interacting this morning.  
_I wonder what happened between them. Maybe she rejected Mordecai? Moxxi must have a long queue of men waiting for a chance to be with her. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was one of them, too..._  
Discreetly her eyes wandered back to the woman in front of her and followed the curves of her body slowly.  
_Who am I kidding? Even I wouldn’t say no to her… Not that this might ever happen, but… I wonder how it feels like having someone waiting for a chance… Doesn’t need to be a bunch of people like she has but… one would be nice..._  
“Honey? You’re alright?”  
Kathlyn shrugged as she noticed Moxxi was talking to her. She’d been sunk in her internal monologue. Now she noticed that Moxxi, but also Mordecai, were looking at her in a slight worried manner.  
“E-Ehm, yes. Sorry… I was just lost in thoughts... It was an eventfull day, you know?”  
She strove for a friendly smile, but she caught the fact that both shared a quick look.

Moxxi made a small gesture and Mordecai handed her some money over, which, in contrast to before, she counted very attentively. After making sure the amount was right, she placed two bottles in front of him.  
“Gracias, hermosa.”  
“Please don’t tell me you’re with that guy now, honey.”  
Kathlyn’s eyebrows frowned at the indirect question, not understanding what she intended to say.  
“With… him…?”  
When she looked over to Mordecai, who grinned cheeky, she finally caught it.  
“W-What?! NO!!!”  
She felt her face growing hot, her cheeks blushed by the simple thought and she looked away from both shyly.  
“I-I don’t even k-know him...”  
She felt Mordecai leaning closer towards her. Her heart started beating heavier as she felt the warmth of his body through her clothes.  
“Actually we’re gonna marry soon. She’s just a lil’ shy, y’know?”  
She didn’t miss the joking tone in his voice, but as he was about to lay his arm around her hips, she felt cornered. Quickly she drew her pistol and pressed its barell against his chin, making him raise his head a bit.  
“Shy’s gonna kill you if you dare to touch her!”  
Chuckling he backed off. At first she worried he might take her reaction offensive, but he was just amused and seemingly enjoying the evening. Bloodwing made a shrilling sound, that sounded like she was laughing too.  
“What?! Yer mockin’ me?”  
He slid off his chair and looked shocked at his pet bird.  
“I’m yer owner! Gotta be on my side, princesa!”  
Moxxi just shook her head and left through the door next to the bar, but Kathlyn giggled amused by the way he interacted with his bird.

Sighing Mordecai leaned backwards against the counter, propping his elbows on the wodden surface and shook his head.  
“Betrayed by my own bird…”  
Silent, he watched what was going on in the bar. At first Kathlyn followed his look over her shoulder. She spotted a few men at one table, sipping their beers and cheering. Two other men stood in front of the gambling machines and threw money in them. At another table sat a pair, arguing over something she couldn’t understand. But except from that, the bar was rather empty. Maybe it was just too early for the usual clients to come and forget their sorrows in booze and Moxxi’s view.

When she looked back to Mordecai, she noticed that Bloodwing was staring at her. Now that he turned 180 degrees, the bird sat on the shoulder towards her. It tilted its head curiously. For a short moment she feared it might attack her any second, but the red eyes didn’t send any negative signs.  
Bloodwing spread her wings, what made Kathlyn shrugg back a bit and squint her eyes. A weight placed on her left shoulder, she dared to open her eyes again and saw that Bloowing was sitting there now. After she was sure the bird wouldn’t harm her, she raised her hand carefully.

“Blood… you got no business on the counter, didn’t yo-”  
Mordecai stopped as he realized his bird sat on Kathlyn’s shoulder. And not only that. The woman was fondling Bloodwing’s neck, who leaned into her touch while making a relaxed noise. The fact the bird enjoyed her touch made her smile happily.  
“Dios mio…”  
It was just a quiet mumble that escaped his throath, but it was enough to make Kathlyn look at him. Instantly she looked guilty.  
“S-Sorry.. I didn’t mean t-”  
“Nah, it’s okay. It’s just… Blood’s usually not very fond of strangers, especially not women. If Moxxi would try to touch her, she’d rip her fingers out.”  
As Kathlyn heard that, she stopped moving and looked scepticall, almost frightened at Bloodwing.  
“Ah! Don’t worry! She wouldn’t sit down on yer shoulder, if she didn’t like you.”  
Right in that moment, Bloodwing pushed her head against her hand, protesting that she stopped fondeling her.  
“See? She likes it. But I can call her back, if yer wanna.”  
Carefully Kathlyn continued stroking the animal’s soft feathers. A tiny smile hushed over her lips.  
Right before she could say something to his offer, Moxxi returned with a pile of pizza boxes. Hot steam emerged from their small gaps and the smell of the delicious food made Kathlyn’s stomach ache a little. She remembered she hadn’t eaten anything since this morning.  
“Enjoy your meal, honey.”  
She slid down her chair, Bloodwing staying on her shoulder. Moxxi looked a bit confused for a short second, but remained silent. Kathlyn took the boxes.  
“Thanks, Moxxi. Until next time.”  
She started walking, but stopped near the exit as she realized Mordecai wasn’t following. Looking over her shoulder, she saw he looked at her, but didn’t move.  
“What is it?”  
He shrugged as she spoke to him.  
“Ah, nothin’, cariño.”  
Hastily he grabbed his bottles, almost dropping one of them, and joined her.

Silently they walked back towards the headquarters. Bloodwing watched Mordecai following them.  
“Hey… yer not from here, right?”  
“You already noticed that this morning. So why do you ask?”  
She didn’t want to make it so obvious that the question bothered her, but she couldn’t hinder her voice from sounding annoyed.  
“C’mon. Just wanna do some small talk. Looks like we're gonna work together for a while right?”  
She groaned quietly.  
“You don’t have to tell me yer whole life story…”  
Then, aprubtly, she stopped walking. He made a few steps until he noticed it and came to a halt too. Questioning he looked at her. She was staring at the boxes in her hands.  
“Is it that obvious that I’m not used to this?”  
His feet appeared in her view as he stepped in front of her. She looked up to him, surprised he smiled at her gently.  
“I’ve been in this business for a looong time, cariño. I learned to see these things, cause it helped me survivin’ this whole shit. But these people around us…”  
They watched the stangers of Pandora walking past them towards Moxxxi’s or away from it, minding their own busines.  
“They won’t see anythin’. But still, I recommend yer leanin’ how to fight. Ain’t gonna end up dependin’ on someone, right? Could be deadly on this planet.”  
Slowly she lowered her view again.  
“I didn’t choose to come here… It was just… the farest I could get with my money…”  
“I see. I’m sure Roland will give you all the ressources yer needin’ to improve. Allies are too rare these days to miss this opportunity.”

They stood there for a long moment. Kathlyn nodded, but she didn’t move, thinking about her whole situation.  
“However… despite all the shit that’s goin’ on here, I find it refreshin’ meetin’ someone like you.”  
Shocked, she looked up at him again. He chuckled in a slight embarrassed manner.  
“Don’t lose yer attitude, okay? Just make sure no one’s fuckin’ with you.”  
A smile built up on her lips. She watched Mordecai grabbing his ECHO, typing on it and suddenly her own device made a sound.  
“If someone’s trying though, call me. Bloodwing and I, we’re gonna kick their asses!”  
Again she didn’t answer; just looking at him silent, her expression slightly questioning, while she thought about his offer.  
_Is he serious? Or is there a catch?_  
“Why yer lookin’ at me with that big eyes, huh?”  
“You…”  
Her eyebrows frowned a little.  
“...are a very strange man, Mordecai…”  
It made him snort with a slight smile, visibly insecure about her statement.  
“But I think I’m okay with that.”  
“Ah, stop it, cariño, or I’ll blush!”


	3. Chapter I - Act III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Kathlyn's first mission, there's some time to get to know some members of the Crimson Raiders. During that, Mordecai crosses a border he didn't expect to exist.

### Chapter I - Stranger to a new planet

#### Act III

Mordecai and Kathlyn entered the headquarters. Without any coment, Tannis grabbed one of the pizza boxes from the stack in Kathlyn’s hands and continued whatever she was doing.  
Kathlyn looked quite confused at her behavior, but all he did was a small gesture, telling her she shouldn’t mind it.

They walked into the safe room and made theirselfes comfortable. Mordecai laid halfway on one of the bunk beds, a bottle of rakk-ale in his hand, an opened pizza box with still more than half of the pizza lying on his belly.  
_He either doesn’t like it or he’s a really slow eater..._  
Kathlyn sat across the room on the sofa and Roland next to her on a chair which he brought from the comand room. With raised eyebrows he noticed that Bloodwing sat on Kathlyn’s shoulder, but he said nothing about it.  
“Roland… these two guys I cared about... you said they sold information about the Crimson Raiders. Who is that guy you are in a conflict with? I-If I may ask you that...”  
“Sure. He’s called Handsome Jack and is the current lead of the Hyperion-corperation. He’s on a revenge spree against us, involving the whole planet.”  
Roland explained the conflict between them and Jack in detail while she listened carefully. The situation sounded far from ideal for the people of Pandora and worse than she’d imagined when Moxxi said “political stuff”.  
“Did you see the space station in front of Elpis?”  
“Ehm… if I’m right and Elpis is the moon of Pandora, then yes. No way to not see it.”  
“That’s where he is right now, always ready to attack us. Fortunately Sanctuary has a shield, but it will just be a matter of time until this won’t be enough anymore. We need to wipe out Jack as fast as possible.”  
Silent she nodded.  
_Wow… I really stumbled into a war. I wonder how long it takes until Jack has me on his radar as well… Last mission certainly won’t be enough, but continuing working for the Crimson Raiders will cause that sooner or later..._  
“Nobody’s makin’ a fuss if yer decidin’ to bow out now. We understand that.”  
She looked over to Mordecai, who had remained silent during their conversation. Roland nodded. When she came to this planet she hadn’t expected to meet such kind people right away.  
“Well, unfortunately, working for you seems to be the best opportunity to get some money.”  
“What do you need this money for?”  
A tiny, bitter smile hushed over her lips.  
“Getting off this crazy planet again…”  
Roland chuckled amused by the phrase.  
“Pandora is a special place. Indeed.”

“And despite all that you are fighting for this planet instead of leaving. Objectively speaking, you should be called stupid for that… n-no offence…”  
Both started laughing.  
“Yer definately right with that. None of us was born here. But, y’know, home’s where the heart beats, cariño.”  
Roland looked at his comrade, a cheeky grin on his lips.  
“Wow, and that from someone who just works on the sidelines. I’m impressed you call this home.”  
Mordecai ripped a small piece of the pizza’s edge of a piece and threw it jokingly at Roland.  
“Home?”  
The two men looked back at Kathlyn, who asked the question. Her head was lowered, looking down at something in her hand, that was bound to a leather band around her neck. Until now she must’ve hidden it under her clothes. Both were wondering what it was, but it wasn’t visible from their point of views.  
A few seconds later she put the band back under her shirt.  
“N-Nevermind…”  
Roland and Mordecai shared a quick look, silently agreeing that they hit a weak point with her discussion about home.

Roland ate the last piece of his pizza and threw the box in a bin nearby. He raised himself.  
“I’m sorry, but I still got some work to do. If you need a place to sleep, we got more than enough beds here. Don’t hesitate to choose one.”  
“Thank you, Roland.”  
He nodded shortly and left the room.

Mordecai took another sip from his bottle.  
“What is this?”  
“Huh? This?”  
He raised the bottle a bit.  
“Stuff’s called rakk-ale. But that’s nothin’ for someone sweet like you.”  
He chuckled amused as she blushed. Suddenly she stretched her arm in his direction.  
“Pass it over!”  
“Yer not wantin’ that.”  
“Just do it!”  
With a saucy grin he shrugged his shoulders and gave her the bottle. Quickly she put it onto her lips and drank a small amount of it, but instantly backed off and started coughing. A small amount of liquid ran down the sides of her jaw as shre raised her hand in front of her mouth.  
Mordecai bursted out in laughter.  
“Told ya!”  
Still coughing she gave him the bottle back.  
“Disgusting! How can you drink that voluntarily?!”  
“That’s just somethin’ for good ol’ men.”  
She chuckled sarcastically.  
“Old? You’re not old!”  
“Ah, trust me. It’s the goggles that hide my age, cariño!”  
“Stop calling me that! What does c-car-cari-”  
She desperately tried to roll the r like he did, but she couldn’t. Quickly he decided to end her suffering.  
“Cariño.”  
“Yah, that! What does it mean?”  
“Translation varies. Darlin’, sweetheart, honey, love… whatever you like the most.”  
Despite Mordecai’s expectations, she stood up aprubtly. Bloodwing jumped off her shoulder during that and landed on the sofa’s back.  
“Stop calling me that! I-I… I’m not...”  
Her voice broke under stuttering, so she cleared her throat and stomped out of the room and downstairs, leaving him behind. The main door was smashed shut with a loud noise. He remained there in a moment of shock, staring at the place she just had been. Then he jumped up and followed her. Bloodwing followed him.

Mordecai jogged outside and stopped at the town’s square. He looked to his right, then his left and spotted her. Kathlyn sat on a bench, deeply sunken in it, her hands buried into the pockets of her wide, dark trousers. Her eyes stared into the void.  
Quietly he sat down next to her, looking up to the night sky. His breath created little clouds in front of his face, raising upwards while they vanished.  
“I’m sorry, car-Kathlyn. Didn’t want t-”  
“I’m not hurt!”  
He looked down at her. The tip of her nose was colored red under the harsh temperatures.  
“Yah, sure…”  
His tone was sarcastic and she couldn’t stand that.  
“If you don’t like it, then leave me alone.”  
“Sorry… I just never met a woman who dislikes cute nicknames.”  
Now his voice was calm and steady without any sign of amusement or anger. She chewed on her lip, hesitating to say something.  
“I… It’s-It’s not that I don’t like it in general. It’s- I mean I- AH!”  
She sat up, leaning forward. Her eyes were locked on him. The emotions he found in it were anger, pain and sadness.  
“I did horrible things, okay?! Things I never can make up in hundrets of lives! If you knew what I did, y-you wouldn’t treat me like that! I’m not a good human and I’m not worth a positive nickname like that! Be a smart guy, you stay away from me, okay?!”  
Silently he listened to her rant without a single reaction. She leaned back into the bench and turned her head away from him.  
“I’m just causing trouble…”

Mordecai sighed relaxed, what made her look at him confused. How could he react like that after she told him this?  
“Y’know… It’s not like we never did things we regret. We’re Vault Hunters, stuck in a crazy war with Jack, we killed hundrets of Bandits and Psychos. Yeah, killin’ some of them may be a bigger contribution to mankind than let’em live… but still, they’re livin’ beings. We’re not proud of that, but we can’t change it either. So, guess as long as we’re aware of that and don’t lose our humanity, we’re good peop-Nah! That’s straight bullshit! we’re no good people…”  
He looked over to her.  
“You got what I wanna say, right?”  
Kathlyn sighed quietly, her eyes turning away from him. She still looked sad, but she nodded.  
“I think so. But I don’t think the things we did are comparable...”  
Mordecai hummed in thoughts to it, neither agreeing nor denying her statement. For long minutes neither of them said anything at all. In contrast to earlier, the streets were pretty empty. But the sounds of Moxxxi’s music echoed throght the whole city, like the beguiling song of a woman, promising she could fullfill every wish.

“What about the woman at the entrance?”  
“Tannis? Oh, she’s pretty harmles. She helped us gettin’ the vault key when we arrived here a few years ago.”  
“Is she always that… repulsive? Or is this about me?”  
Mordecai chuckled quietly.  
“Nah. Don’t mind it, even if she’s sayin’ somethin’ offensive. She’s just lackin’ of some social skills. Despite that, she's incredibly clever. Worked as a scientist for Dahl. Unfortunately, her contact with us brought her in trouble… somthin’ at least I’m not proud of either.”  
“What happened?”  
“Jack found out she had the key. Together with a guy called Wlhelm they beat her and her… Phew, how do I explain that?”  
“Just tell me what happened.”  
“She fell in love with a… Ah, it really doesn’t matter what it was. They tortured her, let’s leave it with that.”  
He looked over at her, checking if she was satisfied with the answer and she nodded shortly.  
“Let’s say…”  
She hestitated a short moment, overthinking what she wanted to say.  
“If Tannis would meet Jack in person and would be able to take revenge… Would you agree with that?”  
“Of course I would!”  
The speed in which he answered surprised her.  
“Even if she tortures him too? Without knowing Jack, I’m convinced he would take revenge for that as soon as possible. Shouldn’t Tannis be the one who stops that circle?”  
“Okay, first, it would be proportional to what he did, so I’m okay with that. Second, Jack would do it anytime again without any reason. Tannis wouldn’t be able to stop it. Some people are just… unconvincebale and Jack’s one of’em.”  
To that Kathlyn said nothing anymore. Again, she stared into the void, thinking about it. She felt Mordecai was eyeing her questioning, but she didn’t react to it.

After a while she felt him gently nudging his elbow into her side to get her attention.  
“Whatever you did, it doesn’t mean someone should treat you badly, okay? Especially no one like me, who has nothin’ to do with it. Same goes for everyone here.”  
She started chewing on her lip, making her words less clear than before.  
“How can you be so confident saying something like that? We don’t even know each other… You can’t really think good about me, can you?”  
The man next to her smiled widely. Suddenly he pushed his goggles up his forehead and revealed his eyes.  
They were surrounded by small wrinkles, under them dark circles. His eyebrows matched his hair color and the way the little hairs stuck together reminded her of small feathers. His eyes were piercing grey with a small hint of blue and green.  
“Can these eyes lie, cariño?”  
He blinked a few times in an innocent manner. Suddenly she raised her fist and hit him hard on the shoulder, making him shrugg away in pain and surprise, but his laugh told her he was still amused by it.  
“Stop joking around! And you know what? You’re right: It’s the goggles that hide your age!”  
She jumped off the bench.  
“I wasn’t jokin’! And I noticed yer didn’t complain I called you cariño again.”  
Her back was turned towards him, but she could hear the cheeky smile in his voice and the tone of his voice was a tiny bit seducing.  
“Idiot!”  
Secretly she was ashamed. Actually she enjoyed being called by a nickname. Though, she shoved that thought aside, ranking it as the simple reaction to something she never experienced.  
He stepped next to her. In the meantime he had put the goggles back in place.  
“However, sorry for crossin’ a line.”  
Annoyed, she waved her hands.  
“Ah! Forget it! I wasn’t hurt!”  
She started walking back towards the headquarters and he followed her.  
“Really? Yer lookin’ pretty sad when I-”  
“Really! Stop talking about it!”

They walked back and Mordecai leaned at the wall next to Roland in the comand room. The dark skinned man looked shortly over to him, then back onto his notes.  
“Good you’re back again. The day was so eventful, I totally forgot to ask why you’re here in the first place.”  
Mordecai wrapped his arms in front of his chest and grinned.  
“Got some interesstin’ news for ya. We need to catch a train.”  
“A train?”  
“Si, amigo. Seems like Jack’s gonna transport the Vault Key to another facility. Train’s scheduled for noon in three weeks. Whole Hyperion’s goin’ bananas, tryin’ not to fuck up the transport.”  
Rolands fist clenched in anticipation.  
“Finally. After all this time. If we get our hands on that key, we would be one step ahead of Jack! Good work, Mordecai!”  
But he just waved his hand as it was nothing.  
“De nada. Tina’s gonna care about the hijackin’. Just need the vault hunters.”  
“Of course. I’ll inform them and Lilith as soon as they’re back. If you hear anything more about it, call me.”  
Slowly Mordecai pushed himself off the wall and stretched his limbs.  
“Gotta go back now. It’s already late.”  
“See you soon.”

He stepped out of the room and walked halfway past the sofa as he stopped. He looked down at it, chuckled and shook his head in amused disbelief. Kathlyn lied there, rolled up like a small animal. She was sleeping so peaceful he’d almost thought their serious conversation from earlier never happened.  
He walked over to one of the bunk beds, grabbed a blanket and returned to her.  
“Silly you. Gotta catch cold…”  
Carefully he tucked her in.  
“See ya soon, cariño.”

As he left the building he turned around again, looking up at the balcony to see Roland waving shortly. He returned the favor and walked slowly to the Fast travel station.  
“Oy, Blood. You like her, hm?”  
His pet bird screeched loudly.  
“Somethin’ special you say? Tss… yeah, she is… indeed…”


	4. Chapter I - Act IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kathlyn is on her first mission with the Vault Hunters Axton and Maya. But not everything works as planned...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there. Thanks for joining again. 
> 
> This is the first time the actual Vault Hunters of Borderlands 2 join the party. I'm excited! (this is also the part where adding tags starts... Hopefully I won't forget that step, hehe)  
> I hope I characterize them as accurate as possible. The short ammount of dialog does not make this easy and I have absolutely no experience with Salvador ^^"

### Chapter I - Stranger to a new planet

#### Act IV

“Hey! Wake up!”  
“They didn’t kill her accidently, right?”  
“No way!”

With a low groan Kathlyn woke up. She felt dizzy. Something was wrong, but her mind was so cloudy she couldn’t realize what it was. Even as she opened her eyes, she didn’t notice it right away. Her sight was blurry at first, but cleared up within half a minute.  
She looked up, seeing the ceiling, covered by a layer of water.  
_Wait… that’s… not right…_  
Everything was upside down. No! She was upside down.

Barely she could feel her hands and feet at first. When she looked down her body, or better said up in this case, she saw a rope bound around her ankles. The other end was secured on a beam near the cailing.  
“Hey, Kath.”  
A whisper entered her ears from the right.  
“Are you okay?”  
A second voice asked and she looked over to their origins. There were Maya and Axton, hanging down the ceiling as well.  
“What… what the hell happened?”  
“We were on a run for Tannis. Do you remember? Killing those dudes we should lure out with some of Moxxi’s pizza?”  
_Run for Tannis? Oh, yes… We were eating breakfast at Moxxi’s when…_

“Hey! Wake up!”  
Tired Kathlyn blinked, wishing she could sleep just a little longer. Through her closed eyelids she noticed the brightnes; the sun must’ve already risen. The cushion under her felt unfamiliar but cozy.  
“Kathlyn?”  
A hand laid down on her shoulder, what made her open her eyes. She saw the hand, a wrist covered by a brown leather sleeve. Her eyes traveled up the arm until she noticed the blue marks on the skin.  
A siren…  
_“Don’t let her play tricks on you! She’s the devil’s bride! Don’t look into her eyes! Burn her!”_  
Panic washed over her body in an instant, making her jump up. Quickly she grabbed her gun and pointed it at the woman in front of her, who dared to touch her. Two blinks and she realized it was Lilith.  
She looked confused, took a step back and raised her hand in a surrendering manner; signaling she won’t cause any trouble or harm.  
“Sorry. It wasn’t my intention to fright you.”  
The red haired woman eyed her closely, obviously noticing the speed of her breath and the fear in her eyes.  
“It’s just me, Lilith… You remeber? I lent you my old ECHO yesterday.”  
Kathlyn lowered her gun and leaned forward a bit. Her eyes stared at the floor, her breath still fast and deep.  
_Great God, I wasn’t prepared for that… I need to leave this planet before something bad happens…_  
“S-Sorry… I just…”  
Before she could answer, Lilith interrupted.  
“Nevermind! I hope the boys didn’t bother you yesterday? Roland usually appears very cold and unintressted in strangers, but believe me, he isn’t. And Mordy is a bit too flirty sometimes. He’s a good guy though.”  
Kathlyn nodded hesitantly.  
“Y-Yeah… I already figured that… I-I mean, I think they are great men… at least from what I know right now…”  
Silence fell over them. Kathlyn fumbled nervously with the blanket covering her legs.  
_Huh? Wait! I’m a hundret percent sure there wasn’t any blanket when I fell asleep! Did someone tuck me in?_

“Ehm… you wanna join us? Everyone’s gatherin’ up at Moxxxi’s for breakfast. If you wanna stay with us, you should meet the others.”  
She looked up at Lilith, a bit puzzled by the sudden question. Actually she didn’t want to go and meet so called “the others”. But her body was craving food and Moxxxi’s was the only place she knew that sold food.  
_I need to eat or I can’t do any jobs… And I need a bunch of money for my upcoming trip..._  
“Yes, w-why not.”  
She stood up, grabbed the blanket and folded it neatly before she left the place. For that she earned a look from Lilith she couldn’t figure, but the woman in front of her didn’t say anything and just walked to Moxxxi’s with her.  
_I’ve got a bad feeling about this…_

Even before they entered the bar, Kathlyn could hear loud conversations and cheerings. Both tables right from the counter were occupied by people.  
At the table in the corner sat Roland, together wird another man.  
Similar to the leader of the Crimson Raiders he looked like a soldier. Wearing a uniform, his blonde hair cropped short at the sides and his shoulders broad telling her everything about his physics. This man can’t be stopped easily.

At the other table sat two other men next to each other, which couldn’t differ any more than they already did.  
One tall and lean, his dark clothes covering his whole body. Even his face was covered by a mask and as Kathlyn realized that, she wasn’t so sure about this person’s gender or if they were a human beeing at all.  
Next to him a rather short but broat built man with wild hair and a long grown beard. He was laughing loud as he told a story. Instantly she caught his spanish accent, reminding her of Mordecai a bit.

On the other side of the table sat a woman. She had short blue hair, her body statue similar to Liliths and, again, there were blue marks on her left arm.  
_This must be a joke! Another siren?!_  
Just in that second said woman spotted Lilith and Kathlyn. She jumped onto her feet and walked over to them, greeting them.  
“Hey, you must be Kathlyn, right? Roland already mentioned you. I’m Maya. Nice to meet you and welcome to the party!”  
Maya grabbed Kathlyn’s hand and shook it, smiling brightly. Then she leaned over to her, whispering in her ear. While that, she covered her mouth so the other couldn’t see the motion of her lips.  
“I’m so glad. Being with the boys all the time can be really stressfull sometimes, you know?”  
Actually Kathlyn had no clear idea what she intended to say, but she just nodded, certain she would find out in no time.

Before she could complain, Maya pulled her to the table she just sat at.  
“These two are Zer0 and Salvador, or Sal for short.”  
Salvador grinned widely, while a <3 was shown on Zer0’s mask. Then she gestured towards the man sitting at Roland’s table.  
“And the guy over there is Axton.”  
Axton raised his hand a bit and nodded. Restrained Kathlyn nodded back.  
“H-Hi everyone… I’m Kathlyn.”  
Maya pushed her down onto the small bench and made her slide to the wall to sit down next to her. She just opened her mouth to ask Kathlyn a bunch of questions as Moxxi stopped at their table with a huge tablet in her hands.  
“Good mornin’, honey. How are you? I hope that drunken idiot didn’t annoy you yesterday.”  
“Mornin’, Moxxi. I’m fine. He and Roland told me everything about the… current situation. Guess I’m part of the team now.”  
The tablet was put on the table, revealing all kinds of food someone could wish for. Sausages, roasted bacon, toast, pancakes, marmelade… everything was there. Moxxi smiled shortly, then sat down on the other table where Roland, Axton and Lilith sat. 

_Moxxi’s really nice, well, to be honest everyone I already met seems to be nice... except for Marcus maybe…_  
“Kathlyn?”  
She felt a finger tipping on her shoulder, looking next to her at Maya.  
“You should start eating before Sal devours everything by himself.”  
Maya winked playfully at her, as she said that.

“Ey, what do you mean by that?!”  
Salvador looked angry at the woman next to Kathlyn, speaking loudly with food in his mouth.  
“I mean by that, that you have absolutely NO manners when it comes to food!”  
“Stop talkin’ shit!”  
Maya leaned forward to him in an offensive manner.  
“Oh, you know I’m right! You’re so greedy, just taking everythin’ you can grab regardless of others!”  
“I’m not greedy! my muscles need these colories!”  
“Muscles? You should train your brain instead! And it’s “calories”, you dum-dum!”  
“What did you just say?!”

Kathlyn watched the arguing. She was convinced this would end in a bad fight, Salvador probably flipping the table over any second. Then Zer0 laid their hand on his shoulder and pulled him back into the seat without saying anything.  
For a short moment it was silent, then, to her surprise, Maya and Salvador started laughing.

With a quiet sigh Kathlyn looked down at her empty plate.  
_They seem to be really good friends… I didn’t expect to find such people here on Pandora… Knowing their life’s are at stake, but still so joyfull… They must be used to these situations…_  
When she looked up again, she saw Zer0 tilting their head and showing a ? on the mask.  
“Eh-N-Nothing… sorry.”  
Quietly she loaded some of the food onto her plate and ate it.  
“So, Kath. How did you end up here?”  
At first Kathlyn was startled about the nickname Maya gave her, but she wasn’t brave enough to say anything about it. Despite that it somehow felt nice how this woman treated her.  
She noticed how Roland turned towards them, leaning onto the back of the bench and listened to their conversation.  
“Ehm… I-I just wanted to g-get away… from where I lived before…”  
“It wasn’t a nice place?”  
“Yeah, n-no, I mean… the people weren’t nice…”

Understanding she nodded, while she picked up a piece of bacon with her fork.  
“Why did you choose Pandora then? This planet isn’t known for very nice people… or safety.”  
Kathlyn chuckled insecurely.  
“I know. It was just the farest I could get with the money I had… at least for now. I will continue my travel when I’m not broke anymore.”  
This time it was Roland who answered.  
“Speaking of that, their list of jobs is pretty long and I’m sure they would be pleased having a helping hand. Right, Maya?”  
“Yeah, of course! Every help is appreciated. After breakfast, Axton and I will go to Tannis. She said she has a job for us. I’d be pleased if you join us. I’m sure this will be fun!”

_Oh… yeah… That’s how I ended up here…_  
The more Kathlyn’s mind cleared up, the more she felt the signs of her body, anxiety included. It crawled up and down every fiber. She took a deep breath, trying to concentrate.  
_I need to calm down! Panic won’t lead me anywhere! I can’t get out alone, so I depend on these two..._

She looked around in the room. In it’s center was a small pedestial, surrounded by the water. A table, some chairs and a bunch of pizza boxes laying around in chaos.  
“Any idea to get rid of these ropes? I tried to slip out, but I can’t.”  
Maya didn’t dare to speak up loudly, fearing their kidnappers could hear them and come back.  
“They took all my equipment… and ripping the ropes is impossible.”  
Hearing that from Axton made Kathlyn feeling a bit more anxious than before.  
_If Axton can not break them… and Maya is unable to slip out… it’s on me now._

When both looked over to Kathlyn, they saw her arms wiggling a bit. Her eyes were closed and shee looked kind of occupied.  
“Kath? What are you doing?”  
“Getting outta here… If I just get the noose around my left wrist tight enough… maybe I can slip out with my right hand.”  
“I tried that, but it’s painfull as hell!”  
But just the second Maya ended her phrase, Kathlyn’s hand got freed and she let her arm hang down with an exhausted sigh.

 _At least one time in my life it’s usefull that my left arm is so damaged it’s almost numb to any pain…_  
“Wha- Wow! You’re a badass, Kath!”  
Kathlyn wanted to argue at first, but it wasn’t the time for that. She freed her other hand and started swinging back and forth a few times until she got enought momentum to pull herself up to her feet.  
Holding herself up at the rope, she was able to untie the knot around her ankles and slide down towards the floor. Still hanging she very carefully sunk her feet into the water, trying to make no noise.  
But as she let the rope go, she realized her legs weren’t able to carry her weight and she kneeled down. Water splashed quietly.  
_Damnit! I didn’t think it would be that hard to walk._

“You’re okay?”  
Despite it being just a whisper, Axton sounded seriously worried. Unsteady she raised herself onto her feet and walked slowly over to them.  
“I’m alright… My knees just feel a bit weak…”  
She loosened the knot at Maya’s wrists as they heard a sound nearby. It came from one of the big pipes lurking out of the walls.  
“Fuck… They heard us. Hurry up!”  
Kathlyn worked as fast as possible but it was barely enough time to free Maya’s hands until one of their opponents appeared. It was a small, crooked guy in blue clothes, wearing a white mask. His wide opened eyes scanned through the room, noticing the empty rope and then her. 

He disappeared for a second and suddenly spawned next to Kathlyn, crashing against her body with full force. She was smashed away a huge distance until she crashed against the wall and sank groaning to the ground.  
She held her head and shook it slightly, her ears ringing from the impact.  
_The hell happened?! Am I alive?_  
Just as she wanted to look back to Maya and Axton, her opponent blocked her view. He started attacking her with his swords. Quickly Kathlyn grabbed a loose pipe, lying in the water, and blocked the blades until one broke. He strucked out from above and she rolled to the side, causing the blade to get stuck in the floor.  
Unfortunately, this couldn’t stop him. He brabbled something incomprehensible, then grabbed her at her collard and pushed her down onto the ground with his whole weight. One hand at the back of her head, he held her face under water. 

Kathlyn tried to wiggle herself free, but he had the upper hand. Despair crawled up her spine as the need of oxygen started to feel urgent. While trying to get free, her ears sometimes reached the surface and the desperate cries of Maya and Axton found their way to them.  
_That’s it… I’m dead… All for nothing? All the pain I endured my life just to get murdered by… this thing?..._  
Her vision was blurry from the water, but she noticed the flashing light hitting her eyes depending on her movement.  
_Light… a reflection… the blade!_  
Almost blind she searched for it, finding the top of the sword which broke earlier during her fight. She grabbed it tight, not minding the blade cutting into her left hand. With a quick movement she smashed behind herself, hitting the guy, who stumbled back with a painful cry. 

Kathlyn’s head shot up, grasping loud for air which was finally granted to her.  
“Kath! Throw the blade to me!”  
She looked over to Maya, who had freed her hands in the meantime, realizing she loosened the knot enough to make her get free.  
The blade still in her hand, she noticed the handle was still attached. So she took it into her right hand and threw it, which was caught by the siren with ease. 

While Maya freed Axton and herself, her opponent recovered from the attack and attempted to jump onto her. This time she dodged him and as he tried again, Axton slammed him away. Their enemy stumbled towards the wall head first and as he hit it, a loud crack annouced his neck broke. Lifeless the body sank to the floor and into the water, just moved by gravity alone.

Kathlyn and Axton sighed relieved, but both hadn’t expected this turn of events.  
“You’re okay?”  
His question followed his hand, which she gladly grabbed to get up onto her feet again.  
“Y-Yes… just a bit shocked… that’s all…”  
Maya joined them. She gathered their weapons back in the meantime and handed them out. 

But the fight wasn’t over yet. Three other enemies appeared. They looked pretty similar, but every of them had their own signature color and weapon. As they noticed their fallen brother, they cried out in grieve and rage.  
Like their opponent before, they vanished and reappeared close to Kathlyn, Axton and Maya, but this time they were prepared.

One, with two axes and an orange hoodie, got quickly shot by the touret Axton threw the second they vanished. His body obeyed the last commands, stumbling formward and then fell to the ground.

Another one, having two short blades and red clothes, dashed right between Kathyln and the vault hunter, separating the group into two parties. Without any mercy he attacked Kathlyn in close battle range, making it impossible for her to get the advantage. Everything she could do was dodge or use her gun to block his attacks.  
_Fuck! He’s tough!_  
She tried to shoot him, but he was so fast she always missed. Just one hit out of this range would be more than enough to take him out, but she couldn’t, backing off. She noticed she’d been cornered if she wouldn’t do something.

While that, Axton and Maya got attacked by the last one. He was just as fast as the others were and with his weapon he was able to block their shots easily. Even Axton’s turret couldn’t land a hit.  
“This end now!”  
Maya’s voice echoed through the large room as she raised her left fist. Their opponent was lifted off the floor and caught in a dark hole. It’s edges shone in purple light.

Kathlyn saw what happened there, noticing Maya’s power blocked their line of sight.  
_They can’t see me! This is my chance!_  
So she took the chance, clenched her left fist and stopped the enemy’s motion. Quickly she shot into his head and withdrew.  
The dark hole disappeared as well and both bodys fell to the floor with a quiet splash. 

Silent the three gathered together in the center of the room, sitting down at the edge of the pedestial. It was silent for a long moment. Only the metal construction of the building cracking and the sound of small waves audible.  
All three sighed, relieved but still in shock. They’d got caught by a simple mistake, hung on the ceiling and almost lost one of their group. This mission went everything but well, even if they’d won in the end.  
Kathlyn rubbed her right hand over her face, getting rid of the wet hair strands sticking to her skin. She was drenched, but alive at least.  
“That…was… different than I imagined…”  
Axton’s voice sounded darker than ever before. Even a soldier like him felt awfull when these things happened.

Kathlyn looked down at her left hand. Two cuts across the glove she wore:: One on the palm, the other across her fingers. The edges on the leather were smeared with blood and still she barely felt any pain.  
“That looks bad…”  
Right as Axton mentioned it, Maya leaned over to look at it too.  
“You should get that stitched up.”  
The siren grabbed a handkerchief from her pocket, took Kathlyn’s hand and wrapped it around it, so it was protected from dirt.  
“We’ll get you some meds from Zed, when we’re back.”  
Silent Kathlyn looked startled at her, but nodded then. Slowly she lowered her head and sighed again.  
“Was… was it my fault? I-I can’t remember how we got caught, but-”  
Axton patted her shoulder encouragingly.  
“No. They surprised all three of us. It’s nobody’s fault. You did great. Without you, we would still hang around here… litereally.”  
A tiny smile hushed over her lips, but vanished in an instant again.  
“He’s right, Kath. Don’t worry, okay?”

Suddenly Axton jumped off the pedestial and strechted his arms up in the air.  
“Y’know what? I think we should get ourselves some pizza!”  
Maya jumped up aswell.  
“Yeah! Pizza!”  
Kathlyn saw how good their mood was, even being close to the brink of death minutes ago.  
“Bill’s on me, ladies!”


	5. Chapter I - Act V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three weeks after her arrival on Pandora, a mission with two of the vault hunters goes terribly wrong. The worst part thing about it: It was Kathlyn's fault.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ehm... yeah... We just don't talk about the fact I didn't post for half a year, okay? Okay, cool.
> 
> After consuming some "how to write/how not to write" videos and podcasts, somehow my style changed and... I love it! In my opinion it's so much better and more dialog based without that "he/she said/mentioned/mumbled..." crap. I also focused more on the character's treats (visually, mentally and relationship wise) to build the world around Kathlyn better. 
> 
> But, since I'm a huge enemy of inconcistency (almost classifiable as an OCD), this meant I needed to rewrite the past chapters. And THAT'S the reason everything took so long. I already updated the previous chapters/acts. The story overall didn't change, so you don't have to read everything again if you don't want to.

### Chapter I - Stranger to a new planet

#### Act V

“WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE?! I SAID: SHOOT THE GUY! NOT THAT BARREL!”

Every bandit and psycho in front of them was dead. Unfortunately not because Salvador, Zer0 and Kathlyn killed them one by one. It was because the whole facility in front of them was slowly burning to ashes. With the building and their opponents, their bait was also gone.

“DO! NOT! SHOOT! THE! BARREL!”  
Salvador was raging. With his big hands he gestured wildly.  
“Why are you carrying a fucking sniper rifle with you, if you can’t use it?!”

Since he started shouting, Kathlyn stood silent in front of him, her eyes staring blankly at the floor. Even if she was actually taller than him, right now she appeared very small.  
Her body was stiff in guilt, knowing he was right, so she didn’t dare to say or do anything. When he told her to shoot the guy in the far back of the facility, she actually wanted to point out that she was still training how to snipe, but Salvador had been so commanding she hadn’t been brave enough to disagree.

Right now she wanted to cry on the spot. She didn’t know Salvador very well and she feared he would be even madder if she did.  
“Salvador, stop that / It was not her fa-”  
“WHOSE FAULT IS IT THEN?!”

Kathlyn wondered about Zer0’s try to stop him. He had to know it was her fault, so why hadn’t he been angry too? She had no idea about Zer0’s experience as a sniper and they were well aware how easy it was to miss a shot from that distance.  
But they were also well informed about Salvador and how he was usually handling things. He would cool down any time soon and then, hopefully, apologize. So Zer0 decided to not complain any further and drew attention off the situation. 

Together with a stomping Salvador they walked back to the Bandit Technical they lent from Scooter earlier.  
Quiet Kathlyn followed them and climbed onto the loading zone at the back of the car. 

And as Zer0 expected, Salvador started to feel bad about his scolding. During their way back to Sanctuary, the city already approaching in the distance, he looked through the rear view mirror at Kathlyn. She was snorting, biting her lip. Tears ran silently down her hot cheeks.  
Now he felt miserable. The other vault hunters learned about his temper long time ago and every of them was experienced and confident enough to deal with it. But this woman was different. Three weeks ago she had absolutely no experience at all in this curel game of guns and blood.

Annoyed Salvador groaned. Zer0 turned their head towards him, the mask showing an :-)

However, as they finally parket the BT in Scooter’s garage, Kathlyn wasn’t with them anymore and nowhere to be seen.  
“The hell did she go?!”  
Salvador searched through Sanctuary, but he couldn’t find her. She didn’t seem to be in the city. He thought about going out to search there, but Lilith recommended not to. She made clear that many new things seem to happen in this woman’s life and that she just might need some time to be alone and think.  
But, if she wouldn’t return or call by midnight, they’d start searching for her.

The rest of the day went by quickly and in the early evening the four vault hunters found themselves at Moxxxi’s, sipping drinks. When Maya heard what had happened, she started scolding Salvador.  
“How could you do this to her?! You knew she needed experience! Mistakes are part of that!”  
The small, bulky man barely dared to say anything about her rethorical questions.  
“I even told you to control your temper in front of her!”  
Maya was already leaning halfway over the table in her anger, as Axton pulled her back into her seat.  
“Let it be. Scolding won’t make it undone. You see Sal regretts it and Kathlyn will come back as soon as she wants to.”  
To that, the siren snorted.  
“I hope you’re right with the last thing…”

“Hola, Tannis.”  
As Mordecai entered the headquarters, Tannis looked at him shortly, presented him a friendly but awkward smile and turned back to her work again. Not minding it at all he quickly jumped up the staris, taking two at the time and turned around the corner.  
He joined Roland and Lilith, who discussed something in the command room. The man looked a bit confused at their visitor.  
“Hi. Did something happen? You visit Sanctuary rarely and this is the second time this month… Did Tina break something again?”  
Lilith chuckled while he asked, knowing how often this had happened in the past.  
“Nah, just got some infos about the transport. Thought I could tell ya in person.”  
Lilith and Roland looked suspicious at each other, before they looked back at him.  
“Mordy, did you run out of rakk-ale again?”  
“I ran out of rakk-ale…”  
The woman rolled her eyes, amused and annoyed at the same time.  
“You should get rid of this habit.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know… Anyways, Hyperion spread false information about the departure time. Looks like they’re not even trustin’ their own men. Very sure our train to catch’s arrivin’ at 3 p.m the day after tomorrow.”  
Roland nodded, typing the new information directly into the computer.  
“Good. I’ll brief the vault hunters tomorrow morning about the upcoming mission. They’ll be there in time. Or, if you want to talk them in person, they’re at Moxxxi’s at the mo-”  
“Eh… Roland…”  
Lilith interrupted his offer to Mordecai, waving her hands attentively.  
“Maybe it’s not the best time right now… They’re in some kind of… crisis.”  
The men looked at her questioning, waiting for her to explain said crisis further. Mordecai quickly eyed Bloodwing, who sat on his right shoulder, making safe his pet wouldn’t be too bored by the situation.

“Sal, Zer0 and Kathlyn were on a mission this morning. I don’t know the exact details, but everything happened with a blown up facility and Sal scolding the poor girl in rage.”  
During her tell, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and shifted her weight onto the right leg.  
“Kathlyn didn’t return to Sanctuary yet. She must’ve jumped off the car before they returned to the city. Maya promised she’d call me as soon as she saw her.”  
Mordecai looked out of the door to the balcony, seeing the sky started to shift into an orange color already.  
“It’ll be night soon…”  
“Yeah… I start to worry, to be honest.”

Quickly Mordecai walked past both and out onto the balcony. He raised his arm a bit and Bloodwing jumped onto it volutarily.  
“Listen, Blood. I need you to find Kathlyn, okay? Y’know, the only girl you like.”  
The bird screeched and pecked at his bandana, pulling at it lightly.  
“Yah, yah. I’ll get yer somethin’ special. I promise, princesa. Now go!”  
He moved his arm upwards abprubtly to give Bloodwing some speed. She spread her wide wings and flew up and high over Sanctuary. Shortly after she wasn’t to be seen from his position anymore.

“You think that’ll work?”  
As he turned, he saw Lilith leaning in the doorframe. Slowly he leaned back onto the railing, his hands giving him support.  
“Of course. Kathlyn’s back in no time. She’s a good girl.”  
Suddenly Lilith started grinning, what made him frown. She pushed herself off the wall and walked towards him.  
“For a short second, I wasn’t sure whether you talked about Blood or Kathlyn.”  
She stopped next to him, leaning forward and propped her elbows onto the railing.  
“Hey, I just met her once!”  
“Didn’t held you from fuckin’ that girl in Haven back then.”  
“That’s not fair, Lil! I’m not that young anymore.”  
“So you wouldn’t do it?”  
“I didn’t say that…”  
Lilith hit him with her elbow into his side harshly, but both chuckled. Remembering the good, old days made both melancholic. Things weren’t easier back then, but at least there hadn’t been a war between them and one of the biggest technology companies in the whole universe.  
Quietly Mordecai looked up, watching the banner above them moving in the cold wind. Lilith looked forward, watching the pieceful life in Sanctuary. Everything in front of her was at stake, but at the same time, this view remembered why their battle was so importent. 

“So… how’s Kathlyn holdin’ up?”  
“Pretty good actually. Maya just told me how well the last missions went. She seems to be a quick learner. And she’s not picky.”  
Lilith stroked through her hair.  
“Most important, she didn’t back off after she got almost killed on her first mission with them.”  
“WHAT?!”  
“Well… Tannis sent Maya, Axton and her out for a run. Catching some rats. Nothin’ special. They ran right into a trap. They were hung up at the ceiling and Kathlyn was the only one able to get out her shackles. She just wanted to free the others as she was attacked by one of these bastards. He almost drowned her, while Maya and Axton could do nothin’ but watch…”  
Again a long phase of silence followed, both sunken in their own thoughts.  
“Seems to be a tough gurl... Tougher than I tought.”  
Lilith looked at him from the corner of her eye, catching a smile on his lips she hadn’t seen in a while. Somehow this woman seemed to fascinate him.  
“She lacks some sniping skills though… so… if you wanna take that chance…”  
“Just tell me: Yer want me to teach her or to bang her?”  
To that she started laughing loudly.  
“I care about the first one… But I guess chances are high you’ll at least try to achieve the second thing too, right? She’s your type.”

Mordecai wrapped his arms in front of his chest. He looked down at her, raising one eyebrow sceptically. This wasn’t visibly directly, but it made his goggled raise at one side as well.  
“Where’s this comin’ from, Lil?”  
“Dunno… It’s just… I’m not jealous or anythin’. But I’m wonderin’ why Bloodwing seems to accept her so voluntarily. I know that bird for years now and she’d still rip my finger off if I dare to touch her.”  
“I’d lie if I’d say I wasn’t wonderin’ about that too… Never met a woman Blood accepted that easily...”

The loud cry of said bird ripped both out of their conversation. Bloodwing landed next to Mordecai and looked curious at him.  
“That’s fast… Can’t be far away then.”  
Blooding jumped from side to side, impatient to show her owner what she found. He turned around and jumped over the railing.  
“I’ll check on her. Call me if ya need somethin’.”  
“Yeah, yeah. Get off my lawn, you needy bastard!”  
Mordecai laughed at that joke and followed Bloodwing, who’d alread flown past him and towards the central square.

Sighing Kathlyn sat on the wide railing of the power kernel station right outside Sanctuary. After she’d jumped off the car at the gate, she’d walked through the whole area of Three Horns Divide without any destination in mind. All she was sure of was that she needed some time to think about everything.  
When she returned to Sanctuary, Lt. Davis asked to keep watch for a while so he could go and take a dinner break. Since there wasn’t anything better to do, she aggreed.

Despite the city so close, it was deadly silent. Just the wind russled over the snow, whirling it up and made it dance in circular patterns.  
_I don’t like these cold temperatures… but right now this view has something… calming…_

It had been three weeks since she came to Pandora and in this short ammount of time she’d been more alive than all of the years before. Of course surviving was hard and after some missons her body felt like it needed weeks of sleep until she’d be able to walk again. But all of this was very rewarding on the other side.

She didn’t want to damit it, but somehow she liked this place. And that was the problem. Checking her money the former evening, she realized it was almost enough to leave the planet. Two, maybe three jobs more and she could leave. Or better continue running. She had no idea what her destination was. When she left her home planet, she just wanted to be as far away as possible.  
But now, living on her own, other questions started to be more important than the simple need of distance. Where was she able to survive? Could she do it alone? Did she even want to be alone?  
The answers to these questions, which seemed so easy three weeks before, made her fall into a pit of circling thoughts now.

Blinking, she looked up to the sky. A bird flying circles high over the area.  
“Hm…”  
_Guess you won’t find anything to eat here, pal…_  
She watched the bird and was a bit jealous of its ability to fly away, if it wanted. 

It didn’t take long until the bird changed direction and flew over Sanctuary, disappearing between its rooftops.

_I wonder if Sal’s still angry…_  
Again she lowered her head, looking at her surroundings, then at her legs that dangled loosely over the edge. The sun had painted the sky orange already and it would be night very soon.

A screeching told her the bird returned. As she looked up, she saw it flying towards her. Quietly it landed next to her. Red eyes looked at her curiously.  
“...B-Bloodwing?!”  
“What is it…” A voice spoke from behind. She looked at it’s source, watching Mordecai jump onto the railing and sit down next to her. “...that could bring someone like you to a lonely and cold place like this?”  
Kathlyn chuckled sarcastically, lowering her head again.  
“You mean this building or Pandora itself? And it’s not lonely anymore if you’re here too...”  
“Fair enough…”  
Mordecai adjusted his goggles silent and looked up to the sky. There was not a single cloud to be seen, what meant that the upcoming night would be mercilessly cold. He was used to the cold temperatures of the area, but he saw Kathlyn rubbing her hands, arms and thighs from time to time.

“So… I heard the last mission wasn’t goin’ as expected…”  
Secretly he watched her from the corner of his eyes, seeing how her expression turned frustrated. She frowned her eyebrows and bit her lip, chewing on it.  
“Yeah… I fucked up… Blew up the whole facility with one missed shot… including the loot of course...”  
Without any warning Mordcai bursted out in laughter, almost falling off the railing backwards as he held his belly.  
“Wh-Why are you laughing?! It’s not funny!”  
But he didn’t stop, neither he started explaining what was so funny about it. The longer he laughed, the angrier she got.  
_That’s it! Fuck this place!_  
Her patience was at an end for today, so she jumped down the railing. She landed in the soft snow that crunched under her wait. Quickly she started walking, leaving him behind.

“Hey, wait!”  
The last thing she thought about was obeying though.  
“Why? To give you the chance to deride me even more?! No, thanks!”  
Mordecai followed her As he reached her, he grabbed her shoulder to stop her, but instantly she smashed his arm away as she backed off from him.  
“Don’t touch me!”  
When he saw her face, he noticed how hurt was. Defending she took a step back, her arms wrapping in front of her chest in a manner he’d only could interpret as if she was scared of him.  
Her body language confused him highly.  
“S-Sorry… I didn’t mean t-”  
“Mean to what?! I know I’m a rook, but that’s no reason to ridicule me! Wasn’t there a time you missed a shot too, Mordecai?!”  
Hearing her angry voice, that had this tone of disapointment and saddnes in it made his heart clench in his chest. A bitte smile hushed over his lips, angry at himself for not treating her with more care.  
“That’s the actualy reason I laughed… The exact same thing happened to me long ago. Can ask Roland about it. He’d never admit he’s angry though…”  
A restrained, regretting voice escaped her throat and she turned her view away from him.  
“It wasn’t my intention to deride you. I… I know what yer feelin’. Sorry for… bein’ such an idiot.”  
Shortly she shook her head, but kept silent.  
“A-And sorry for touchin’ ya without askin’...”  
“I-I… It’s not your fault…”  
“I can help you though.”  
The offer came so suprisingly she couldn’t help but to look at him, her eyes widened slightly in confusion.  
“I mean, I can teach you snipin’. Some say I’m good at it.”  
As she didn’t say anything to that, looking at him with the same expression as before, he chuckled.  
“I am in fact good at it. Don’t worry.”

Sighing, she closed her eyes for a moment.  
“That’s really gracious of you, Mordecai. But I can’t accept that offer.”  
Mordecai tilted his head questioning and before he could even ask why, she started rambling.  
“D-Don’t get me wrong. I believe in you, if you say you’re good at it… and I’m sure y-you’re a great teacher… B-But I can’t. I almost got all the money I need and… paying you now in addition would nix my plans… I-It’s not just paying you! I’d miss lots of shots a-and… Marcus’ ammunition is mercilessly overpriced… a-at least in comparison to other types… I mean, I h-have no idea about that. Maybe production’s just more complex an-”  
“Cariño, tranquila! No need to talk yer pretty head off! Marcus is a cheapskate. Everyone knows that.”  
The interruption startled her for a short moment, but then she shook her head again.  
“Yeah, whatever… Thanks for the offer though…”

All of a sudden, Bloodwing made a protesting sound. Both looked at the bird, which still sat at the railing of the station, waiting.  
“What?! I’m in the middle of a converation.”  
Again the same sound.  
“I know what I promised! Be a little patient, okay?”  
Kathlyn watched their interaction. It was fascinating and amusing at the same time.  
“What did you promise?”  
Mordecai made a clicking sound and stretched his arm. Bloodwing spread her wings and flew quickly to him.  
“I promised her a little treat for findin’ you.”  
“You taught her some pretty useful stuff…”  
The admiration in her voice made him chuckle embarrassed as he scratched the back of his head. He rarely received any kind of compliments for his effort with Bloodwing.  
He remembered the time when he was with Moxxi, who constantly bragged about his pet. To be fair, Bloodwing hadn’t been the nicest to her either. When she broke up with him, he swore to himself never fall for a woman again if Blood and her wouldn’t get along.  
“We’re a good team. Right, princesa?”  
Again the bird screeched, but didn’t sound as protesting as before. She stretched her wings, showing her size with a proudly swollen breast.

Yeah, Kathlyn totally admired the connection Mordecai had to his bird. She’d never met a guy like him before. A painful ache shot through her chest, making clear she’d miss that man, despite not really knowing him.  
“You… are a really exceptional guy, Mordecai. I’m pleased I met you.”  
Mordecai shifted his view from his pet to her, seeing a bittersweet smile on her lips. She lowered her view and swallowed hard.  
“Hey…?”  
Slowly he stepped forward to her. His fingers under her chin, he didn’t touch her but it was enough to make her look at him again.  
“Why is this soundin’ like a goodbye?”  
“B-Because it is… I just need one, three jobs max until I have enough money to leave… I highly doubt we’ll see each other ever again.”  
“What’s yer destination?”  
“Don’t know… as far away as possible, I guess…”

Mordecai breathed out loudly as he slipped his hands into his pockets, standing relaxed in front of her. He eyed her closely, smiling gently as he started talking again.  
“I remember how confident yer about leavin’ three weeks ago. When we sat in the safe room, eatin’ pizza.”  
“Hm…”  
“And now, yer standin’ here, this sad smile on yer beautiful face and I can’t help but think yer don’t wanna go.”  
Kathlyn opened her mouth to say something, but hesitated, struggling to form the right words in her head to not sound as he was right with his assumption. Because he was.  
“Y-You don’t understand… I can’t stay.”  
“Why? Can you explain it? I won’t laugh this time, I promise.”  
For a short moment she really thought about accepting his offer. But then she shook her head quietly, declining.  
“I ca-I can’t talk about it… sorry…”

To her surprise he just shrugged his shoulders a bit.  
“Okay. No need to feel pressured. But listen, cariño. All I wanna say is, if yer wanna stary, you should do it. Lil and the vault hunters said yer doin’ great work. And Roland would too, if he hadn’t the emotional range of a frickin’ loader bot.”  
As he saw her expression didn’t really change, he added:  
“An’ forget about that little incident this mornin’, okay? Soon, it will be nothin’ more than a memory you laugh at. Just like I do about mine.”

“KATHLYN!!!”  
The loud cry ripped them out of their conversation. Both looked at the entrance of Sanctuary. Salvador ran like crazy towards them. Just in time Mordecai jumped aside and Salvador’s big hands grabbed Kathlyn’s shoulders. He lifted her off the ground like a precious thing he’d lost and found again.  
“YOU’RE ALIVE! I WAS SO WORRIED!!!”  
“Sa-Sal, I’m-”  
“I’M SO SORRY FOR YELLING AT YOU!!!”  
Kathlyn chuckled blindsided but amused.  
“Y-You’re yellin’ right now…”  
“Oh… oh, sorry. Anyways, I’m sorry about this morning! I will never do it again. Can you ever forgive me?”  
Helpless Kathlyn looked over to Mordecai. But he just raised one of his hands, waving it.  
“See ya around, cariño!”  
He started walking towards the city again. As he stepped onto the metal floor, he passed the other three vault hunters. Quickly he nodded towards them.  
“Don’t be late to the party, guys!”  
Then he left towards Moxxxi’s. The three looked after him confused.  
“The hell was that?”  
But Maya and Zer0 just shrugged their shoulders, having no answer to Axton’s question. 

As they looked back, they saw Kathlyn was still held into the air by Salvador.  
“Hey, Sal! Put her down again! She’s not a toy!”  
Quickly he obeyed Maya and took a step back.  
“He’s really a softie…” the siren mentioned grinning and both nodded quietly.


End file.
